REVIEW FROM PULSE THE PREMIERE AT THE NORWEGIAN NATIONAL OPERA & BALLET, OCT 12th 2010.

"While the female dancer Aditi Mangaldas spins across the floor with sprightly grace, the male dancer Sudesh Adhana explodes through the space with angular and valiant execution. Adhana's performance resembles a forever intermission time bomb, yet at the same time soft on his feet and rapid as a cheetah — really quite gripping.

At a point we forget we are in a conventional theatre space in the Norwegian National Opera House and feel as if we were watching a quirky aerial artist at a circus in Delhi, a genius moment!"

GUEST PERFORMANCE AND PREMIERE 2010

GUEST PERFORMANCE AT THE TOPIC INTERNATIONAL CENTRE IN TOLOSA, SPAIN OCTOBER 9TH 2010. NORWEGIAN PREMIERE AT THE NORWEGIAN NATIONAL OPERA & BALLET OCTOBER 12TH AND 13TH 2010.

Damini House of Culture in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Sudesh Adhana (who lives and works in Oslo) and two high-profile dance- and puppet artists from India, is behind an innovative, contemporary production that opened ISHARA International Puppet Festival in New Delhi in January 2010. The show will have a two week residency and performance at the TOPIC, International Puppet Center of Tolosa in Spain on th 9th of October, before a Norwegian premiere on the 12th of October at The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo.

"This is a riveting contemporary dance and puppetry piece(...) extremely fluid in form and abstract sprite."

The Pioneer, New Delhi, India, 29th of January 2010.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

DRE: or three as they say in Pashto (one of the national languages of Afghanistan) is a performance with contemporary dance and puppetry that creates layered conversations about power, manipulation and war. Is the war ever truly over?

The artistic starting point for the performance DRE is based on an episode from one of the largest wars in the Indian Mythology, from the epic Mahabharata, and carried out in a parallel to today's war situation.

Episode from Mahabharata and the relevance of todays time

Gandhari is a woman in the Mahabharata, who marries a blind king. In order to be a good wife, she ties a blindfold in front of the eyes in sympathy for her husband. She is the mother of the 100 sons, who in the Great War are portrayed as villains, the evil. In the episode used as a source for DRE, we meet Gandhari who comes to the battlefield, where all her 100 sons are killed. The god Krishna, who is pulling the strings, who has consulted the victorious, arrives at the battlefield. Gandhari curses Krishna. In the general perception in India Gandhari is conceived as a woman of high moral standards, as she puts her husband ahead of herselves. But in today's India a number of authors and writers have questioned this. By choosing not to see, she may have missed the development and upbringing of their sons. Should she have seen and avoided the sons choices and mistakes?

Historically the figure Gandhari is from Kandahar, which is now the second largest city and capital of Kandahar province in Afghanistan. In a parallel to present time, we are dealing with a historical and mythical figure who could have been the mother of any terrorist.

The figure of the mythical Krishna is seen as a political reformer and the political key figure in the Mahabharata. The third figure in the performance of DRE is the protagonist of the war: the son, the husband, the soldier, the one who carries out orders, and or the fallen.

Theme

When the great war ends, a hundred Kauravas lie dead, blasted into the earth. Their mother Gandhari aches, a thousand arrows piercing through her soul. But what of Krishna, does he find solace, is this the victory he sought? Exploring the myth and exploding it through physical movement, dance and puppetry, Dre: Three creates many layered conversations about power, control, survival, death and life. Is the war ever truly over?

Richa Chandra

Richa Chandra of Damini House of Culture will be the understudy of Aditi Mangaldas, when the production will come to Norway, and she will perform the school performance at The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo on the 13th of October at 1 PM.

Images courtesy of Vpul Sangoi

the manipulating one

the last trio

New production by Damini House of Culture

"DRE (three)" is a new contemporary dance and puppetry collaboration.

Preview show (før-premiere) presented at the Ishara International Puppet Festival at

Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, India on the 27th of January 2010.

The production is choreographed and danced by Sudesh Adhana, in collaboration with the highly profiled artists,